Taczanowski's Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola griseus Scientific name definitions

The Taczanowski’s Ground-Tyrant is named for the pioneering Polish natural historian explorer of Peru, who published an important, three-volume work on the country’s birds in the 1880s, the first such monograph for a South American country. ‘His’ ground-tyrant is found over the páramos and puna grassland in the Andes of Peru and northwest and central Bolivia, it being widespread at 2700 to 4800 m elevation. While the bird’s name is somewhat ‘exotic’, the species’ plumage is distinctly unremarkable, even amongst the genus Muscisaxicola, which is generally rather uniform. The most obvious feature of the bird’s plumage is the long, white supercilium, and the blackish tail, while the rest of the body is more or less brownish gray, becoming paler over the underparts. Like other ground-tyrants, the species is principally terrestrial, and it forms small, loose flocks in the non-breeding season.

Peru (S from Cajamarca) and NW & C Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba).

Song is unknown. Call note is a soft "pip" repeated at intervals.